Kayak in production at Russmedia, Austria

The first phase of the Kayak deployment project at Russmedia GmbH ended with successful production start at the end of 2017. Russmedia is an international media house headquartered in Schwarzach, Austria. In addition to the traditional print and distribution business, Russmedia is very active in utilizing new technologies. Russmedia has 1000 employees at 14 facilities across Europe.

Bernd Heregger from Vorarlberg Mail distribution company owned by Russmedia comments:”We knew that it is risky to choose a system from a provider not established in the German market, but Jaicom’s many years of experience, expertise, stress-resistant project team and our very intensive testing have contributed to a successful GoLive. The day we went live, there was not a single interruption, in terms of our work processes. Kayak’s scalability, versatility and the engagement of the whole project team has helped to transform our operations quickly and smoothly. We are very pleased that the Jaicom team worked with us closely to achieve this and to enable us to receive the benefits of Kayak. So we are certain that also next project phase will be very successful.”

Aija Kurki, Project Manager from Jaicom comments:“Project in a new market is an exciting challenge but from the start it was clear that Russmedia’s professional and dedicated project team makes this project successful. Project scope containing core Kayak, carrier management, new third-party integrations in new business environment and in new language area made this project truly different compared to last similar size of projects. During project there emerged bigger and smaller surprises which were all tackled with persistent and hardworking teams in both Russmedia’s and Jaicom’s sides. Jaicom’s team is happy to continue with Russmedia to extend Kayak use with new features in next project phases.”

Jaicom AB hosted a user conference in Gothenburt on 18th and 19th of October. Almost all of our newspaper customers were represented and the event was highly appreciated. About the program can be mentioned a presentation by CEO of Jaicom, Jorma Ainassaari. He talked about Jaicom’s roadmap concerning new GDPR data law, which will come into effect in spring of 2018. Jorma also told a bit about the new developments of the next generation of Kayak. Compost, a Jaicom partner in Sweden, was invited to speak about its Carma system, which is integrated with Kayak. It enables newspapers to send mail and text messages among other things to their customers. Sending can happen with specific selections and event-triggered triggers.

More than 1.6 million users in Sweden have signed up for Kivra in order to be able to receive their mail digitally. Large print supplier MediaService i Kristianstad and Samurajdata, partners to Jaicom, informed about the opportunity to send subscription invoices to customers via Kivra.

A significant amount of time was also devoted to presenting and informing about new versions of Kayak and KayakLite, as well as reviewing features which customers are able to purchase.

The EU’s Data Protection Regulation to take effect in May 2018 will set new obligations for data controllers.

In spring 2017, Jaicom launched the necessary measures to bring its data protection practices in line with the obligations set by the Data Protection Regulation. The required system changes have now been made to the Kayak Customer Management System, and the new capabilities will be included in the next system update.

The upcoming legislation also means that data controllers’ statutory policies will require updating. Jaicom will guide its customers in updating privacy policies related to subscription databases and registers this winter

Kimmo is well known among many publishers. For the past four years, he has managed LM Information Delivery’s publisher contracts and sales collaboration, for both the newspaper and magazine business and ePress and eMagz products. Kimmo, who has a business and technical background, will provide good support for the sales of both current and future Kayak products, and for developing the products together with customers.

With its 12 titles, NTM is a major customer at Jaicom Ab. Previously, they run TID2000 on their 11 titles. Enköpings-Posten, which was taken over at the turn of the year 2016-2017, has previously used Kayak at NWT.

The project started in late 2016, and the implementation was carried out in four stages. First out were the newspapers in Gotland and UNT, which changed system in February 22nd. Thereafter, the switch took place with Enköpings-Posten in mid-March. Östgöta Media was then ready to start in mid-April, and finally, the newspapers in Norrland (NK, NSD and PT) were moved. This took place on May 18, 2017.

The entire project has been running as planned and held the set schedule.

NTM runs the system as SAAS solution, but with a dedicated server, and all titles are in one database. Addition to Kayak, NTM has also Kayak Lite in use.

After NWT's purchase of the newspapers Värmlands Folkblad and Karlstads Tidningen, these titles are now converted from Leissner's WebAbo to Kayak. These new titles run in the same database as other NWT titles.

As ETC has taken over Fria Tidningar, five titles (Fria Tidningen, Göteborgs Fria, Landets Fria, Stockholms Fria and Sesam) have been converted to Kayak Subscription system. These newspapers are now in the same database as other ETC titles. The migration took place at the end of March 2017. Previously, Fria Tidningar used WebAbo from Leissner.

From March 9 has VK Media used Kayak for its subscription management. 2 titles are included: Västerbotten Kuriren and Folkbladet. Company uses Kayak as SAAS solution and both titles are in the same database.

VK Media was a customer of Jaicom until 2013, then using TID2000, and later became the first customer Jaicom has converted from Infosoft's system. We welcome VK Media back.

LM Information Delivery (Finland) purchased the entire share capital of Jaicom, and acquired YAP Solutions’ magazine and leisure organization business. The company’s objective is to establish an internationally competitive operator that offers publishers subscription services and systems. As part of the same transaction, iO Kustantajapalvelut Oy , which is owned by LM Information Delivery, will be merged with Jaicom.

YAP Solutions’ magazine and leisure organization business, iO Kustantajapalvelut and Jaicom will now serve their customers under the name Jaicom Oy. The transaction will see personnel transfer to the service of Jaicom, whose employees will number roughly 50. Jorma Ainassaari will remain Jaicom’s CEO.

“The transactions are a strategic step in Jaicom’s development and will enable the company’s growth both in Finland and globally. The synergies of the merging companies are considerable, since their client base and business development targets are mutually supportive. The transaction will also enable us to serve our customers with an even more comprehensive offering,” says Jorma Ainassaari, CEO of Jaicom Oy.

Thanks to the merger and acquisition, Jaicom’s position in the Nordic market will be further reinforced, as the company’s expanded product and service offering will be the most comprehensive in the industry, and in future will also include system, operating and subscription services for publishers.

Stronger focus on product and service development

The merger and acquisition will enable an ever-greater focus on product and service development. Jaicom’s goal is to offer publishers increasingly advanced services and solutions for managing publication subscriptions.

LM Information Delivery, which owns Jaicom, is one of the fastest-growing Finnish service companies, with subsidiaries not only in the Nordic countries, but also in the US, the UK, South Africa, Spain and the Netherlands, among others. A stable business ownership that is focused on service innovations will give Jaicom better operating conditions, growth and competitiveness in international markets.

“With this merger and acquisition, our objective is to build an increasingly competitive operator that can offer publishers a broader range of services on a global level,” says LM Information Delivery’s CEO, Janne Järvinen.

Jaicom Oy
Jaicom specializes in the development of systems for newspaper subscriptions and distribution. The company has a subsidiary in Sweden and operations in Germany, Austria and the UK. More than 300 titles in Finland and Sweden manage their subscription and distribution operations with the company’s systems. In addition to ready products, Jaicom offers its customers system and software development services. www.jaicom.com

LM Information Delivery (Finland)
LM Information Delivery is a provider of subscription and information management services. The company’s offering includes subscription management services, eResource access and management services, eBook services and database services. LM’s customers include university and research libraries, public libraries, cities and municipalities, corporations and corporate information services. In addition to its head office in Finland, the company serves its customers in all Nordic countries, and in Estonia, the UK, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, South Africa and the USA. www.lminfo.fi.